American Invasion!
by Roapatry
Summary: American student Sakura Hayden just transferred from the US. Can she survive the drama that is School Rumble? How will she fit in the love chain of HarimaTenmaKarasuma? SemiAU, OC, rated T for language, and suggestive themes.


I don't own School Rumble. This is just a work of fanfiction, possibly by a psycho writer who enjoys toying with relationships.

(Note: This is filled with information current only up to book 5. Anything farther hasn't yet been read at this point. So, we'll pretend that they're a year ahead, but nothing else happened. Maybe you get it, maybe not. Bear with me, here.)

(Anything said in English is marked with a '-' Ex: Karasuma said, "-Sure-")

Oops, another annoying note. We're pretending that American things (food, culture, anything really) hasn't tainted Japan yet. So with that information in mind, you could possibly enjoy this to the fullest if you remember that this might as well be an alternate universe.

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It was the first day of their final year in high school, and Kenji was just as eager as ever to sit next to Tenma.

'Last year wasn't how I planned, but this year, everything is going to be great. In fact, the main reason it's fine is because it's the next year. Karasuma is transferred, and Tenma is still here.' He silently rejoiced, checking the class list. He hoped that he was in her class again this year. Looking at the list, again, he rejoiced. He had made it into her class without begging the staff. Several new people were added as well. Several school transfers, all guys. One caught his interest: Hayden Sakura--the only new girl.

"What a weird name. Must be an exchange student," Kenji muttered to himself, walking to his classroom. When he arrived, everyone was talking about his or her summer vacation. He slid to the back of the classroom and leaned against the wall, gazing at Tenma so lovingly. No one would notice with his sunglasses on.

'Oh Tenma, won't you ever learn that no one is capable of loving you as much as I do

She was talking with her friends, with a tinge of sadness on her face.

"Tsukamoto, you'll find someone else, I'm sure of it. He'll probably be better than Karasuma-san," Mikoto laughed and patted her on the shoulder assuringly.

'Like me,' Kenji sighed in his head.

Finally the teacher came in and posted the seating arrangement on the wall. Kenji was the first and only one to look at the paper, since everyone else kept their distance. He looked at the desks immediately around him, seeing Tenma on his left.

'The back of the room and next to Tenma. Could this get any better?' He cheered in his head. He was about to turn and go sit down, but a familiar name caught his attention. Hayden Sakura again, sitting in front of him. At least on the chart... He didn't see any new girls in class. He shrugged and went to sit down.

After he sat down, the whole class flooded over to check the paper. Tenma would've gone over when the teacher posted it, but she hadn't been paying attention. She wasn't afraid of Kenji, after all, she only thought he was a little odd. She found her seat on the chart and sighed.

'No Karasuma-kun. I'm going to miss him.' Then she noticed, "Hey, there's an empty seat in front of me! How strange... Oh no, I'm next to Harima-san again. Gosh, talk about variety. At least I get a window seat." She walked away and found her seat in the back, next to Kenji... again.

Kenji reclined in his chair, letting it touch the wall while watching his beloved Tenma out of the corner of his eye. He noticed she was sadly looking out the window. Class had started and all she had managed to do was open a new notebook and doodle hearts all over it.

Everyone started talking again when the teacher left the room for a moment, but when he came back in with a new face, everyone suddenly hushed, except for a few boys--who were whispering among themselves.

"Everyone, we have a new student. She's from the U.S. I'd like to introduce Hayden Sakura."

Kenji slowly directed his attention toward the teacher, since he was curious. Hayden-san was definitely not your average girl. She was taller than most of the girls in class, probably around Mikoto's height. She had medium length, intense red hair that faded into dark red at the roots. She wore it in one big, loose braid in the back. She was wearing the school uniform, but tried not to make it so "formal" by having it untucked and not having the bow tied pristinely like Tenma's. It looked like she could be related to Mikoto, since they were physically almost the same.

Sakura introduced herself in nearly perfect Japanese, leaving almost everyone astounded. By then, Kenji's attention had been lost to Tenma again.

Eri smirked, '-This girl's got some style-.'

Sakura walked to her seat and plopped down lazily, yawning loudly. She promptly apologised.

"-Ugh, jetlag-," she said in English.

Eri piped up, "-Yeah, no kidding! It's awful, right?-"

Kenji looked at them, confused, 'What the heck are they saying?'

Most of his classmates knew intermediate English, but since he missed so many days, he was behind. The only thing he understood was "yeah and no." Tenma still wasn't paying attention.

In fact, she didn't even notice the teacher greet Ooji and place him in the empty desk. Apparently neither did Kenji until Sakura greeted him.

"-Hello Karasuma-san. You're a little late-," she said, again in English, this time a mistake.

He nodded, replying in English, "-...I had a few things to sort out-."

Kenji was in distress, 'What the hell is this guy doing back?! You can't get rid of him!' He was emanating a purple, murderous aura for the first time this year.

Tenma heard his name and fell out of her chair, hitting Kenji on the leg.

"Wha-wha-WHAT?"

Sakura thought to herself, '-Wow, this must be a pretty good school, cuz everyone knows English-.'

Ooji turned around, just in time for Tenma to have already weakly climbed back in her seat. Kenji only sat there, with a stunned look on his face.

"Hello, Tsukamoto-san."

Tenma managed a squeaky "hi" back to him before her face turned blue from not breathing. She fell over once again, Kenji helping her.

Sakura whispered to Eri, "-What's up with her? Is she epileptic or something-?"

Eri whispered back in a louder whisper, "-Nah, she's just got a thing for-," she looked around to make sure no one was listening, "Karasuma-san."

Sakura giggled and looked behind her. She stared at Kenji for a minute, then turned back around and cracked her knuckles.

Tenma thought, 'Oh my gosh, he's here this year! And, he's sitting in front of me! Oh... if only I could switch places with that... new girl? When did she get here? Grrr. Why is she sitting next to my Karasuma? Oh yeah, seating arrangements.'

When the teacher passed out first-day assignments, Tenma got up and asked the teacher if she could move forward one seat.

"Uh, sure if you can find someone to switch with. Are you having trouble seeing the board?"

She nodded and proclaimed victory loudly, quickly covering her mouth, "Uh, hmm.. Yes, I'm going to switch seats!"

Embarrassed, she shuffled back to her seat for a second. There was only one stop she could take, since she didn't want to sit in front of him again this year. She'd have to ask.

"Um, hi. I'm Tsukamoto Tenma."

"Hi, I'm Hayden Sakura..." She looked at Tenma strangely.

"Hi Hayden-san, can I switch seats with you?" Tenma bowed, practically begging.

Sakura looked back at Tenma's seat. Corner back, by the window. Everyone's dream seat. At least the delinquents desired seat. Perfect. Why would she want to... 'Oh yeah,' she looked over at Ooji, who she had previously met on the plane to Japan. Apparently he had been visiting his parents in the U.S. but had decided, and convinced his parents that he was going to stay in Japan. It was his last year, anyway.

"Oh, sure!" Sakura happily obliged, besides, it wasn't like she wanted to be completely surrounded by people on all sides. She grabbed her briefcase and her notebooks and shuffled over to the desk kitty-corner behind her. There she sat, a delinquent on one side, by the looks of it, and a blank guy in front of her.

'This is going to be an interesting year,' she thought, filling out the interests paper that they had all been given.

Kenji was silently sobbing that Tenma had moved, but on the good side, she was still close to him... 'Perfect for brushing her hair in class, I guess.'

Sakura had nearly the whole thing filled out and was about to get up and turn it in, but Kenji stopped her. Her heart pounded for some reason.

"You... forgot your name," he muttered.

She looked at her paper and gasped, "Eheheh, bad habit, I wrote it in English. Um, thank you."

Kenji nodded and started filling his paper out for the first time.

Sakura got up and turned her paper in after filling her name out correctly. She came back and sat down staring at the guy who just helped her.

'-Huh, for a guy dressed like that, he sure doesn't pull off the whole tough guy act-...' She blushed, '-Actually, he's pretty cute. I have a thing for long hair, anyway-.'

She blushed even harder as her gaze drifted over towards him and quickly back again. She fiddled with her pencil and then fiddled with everything in her briefcase until she ran out of things to do.

'-Most guys that look like that at home are Latino, or... just plain ugly. That's not a common look-,' she sighed and rested her chin on her hand, '-Gosh he's cute-,' seemed a recurring thought that hour. She seemed to have almost fallen into a daydream coma until the teacher spoke up said it was break time.

She didn't feel like she needed a break, so she stayed in her seat. Strangely, the guy sitting next to her didn't go either, and neither did Tenma.

She looked directly at him, trying her best not to blush or giggle, "Excuse me, can I ask your name?"

Kenji, at first didn't think she was asking him, but after looking around, realised that she was.

Tenma turned around and butted in before he could even muster the breath.

"That's Harima-kun. He's a naughty boy, and likes to skip school for long periods of time. Isn't that right Kenji-san?"

All he did was nod and blush furiously. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, okay," she said, almost like a question. A few moments later, she asked, blushing a little, "Harima-san, can you be friends with me?" He nodded.

"Okay, good. Y'know you kinda remind me of one of my old friends back home." She sighed, '-Yeah right, more like my crush-.'

When school got out, Sakura caught up to Kenji, who, had completely forgotten about being her friend.

"Can I get a ride? My bike's being delivered from home next week."

"Uh, sure. Where do you live,?"

As she hopped on the back of his motorcycle, she explained where she temporarily lived. He agreed to take her home, since she only lived a block away. She wrapped her arms around him and he drove off. The whole ride there was a whole new experience. She had never ridden a motorcycle with a guy before, let alone one that she thought was cute. With no helmet, she had her face pressed into his back, and combined with the fire inside her face, was very hot.

He stopped and let her get off, right in front of her house.

"Gosh, I wish you could stay and talk for a minute... I'm new after all."

Kenji shrugged and turned off his bike, parking it on the side of the street. He set his helmet on the seat and walked her up to the step. She sat down, as did he.

"You know, after I get my bike, my aunt is expecting me to move out. Do you know any place I can live?"

Kenji bit his lip. He really wanted to help her out, but he was still living with his cousin, and he wasn't sure she would let him take anyone in.

He hesitated, "I'm gonna move pretty soon, maybe then? There just isn't any room for anyone else at my place now."

She looked down, "Oh. I understand. I guess I can try someone else, then. Thank you anyway."

He felt really bad, but he didn't exactly have any slack to work with. After a moment of thinking, Kenji's curiosity was taking over.

"By the way, Hayden-san, why did you pick me, of all people, to be friends with?"

Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Hadn't he heard her earlier? '-Guess I'll go the polite way-.' She sighed, "You remind me of one of my old friends back home."

"You like tough guys?"

Sakura snickered, "Yeah, but it's always the tough guys with the soft hearts. That's why I like 'em. Beneath the outer shell, there's a soft, gooey, mushy, wonderful underneath that's waiting for the right person to free them."

Kenji looked away, setting his head on his knee. 'This girl is the only one out of any of them to understand me. I can't believe it.'

Sakura gasped suddenly. He looked at her, puzzled.

'Oh my god, I knew I could do this before, but he's clearer than a crystal.'

He grabbed his head and groaned, "I'm hearing things!"

She gave sort of a twisted, evil laugh. 'How is this possible, can he hear me?'

"Hear you? _Who are you_?"

She thought about a cat, instead of anything else. No words, just a black cat.

"What the hell was that about?" Kenji was frantic, "Whatever just happened was really freakin' weird."

"What?" Sakura, playing stupid.

"I heard this weird voice in my head, and it sounded familiar. Talking about crystals, and asking questions. I think I'm going crazy!"

"I'm sure you just need something to eat. Come in, maybe?"

Kenji stood up, "I'll take you up on that offer. Thanks."

Sakura unlocked the door with the key around her neck. It had been hidden fairly well beneath her shirt, since Kenji was puzzled as to where it suddenly came from.

"My aunt isn't home yet. She doesn't come home until about eight."

Kenji kicked his shoes off and took his school jacket off.

"-Just ... uh-," she took his jacket and brought it back to her room, since her aunt's boyfriend broke the coat rack yesterday. Kenji stood in the doorway, feeling like a dolt.

She popped her head out from her room, "Just... go in the ... living room."

For a foreigner, she knew Japanese pretty well, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

Locking her door, Sakura took her school uniform off, lazily throwing it on the chair in the corner. She was about to take her skirt off, but there was something alluring about his jacket that she had to pick it up. It was still warm from his body. She blushed, putting it on. It was soft, and warm, like it had just come from the dryer. She buttoned it up and looked at herself in the mirror. It was a little too big for her, but comfy nonetheless. There she was, ruffled hair from the ride home, standing in a strange--but cute--guys school jacket with nothing but a bra underneath. She took it off and quickly changed her clothes, almost heading back out to the living room, but she was again, allured by it. She picked it up and smelled it, sighing.

'-Oh, if this is what a hot guy smells like, count me in on the hunt-!'

Almost drooling, she folded it up and set it on the corner of her bed, harder to see from the door.

Kenji's stomach was growling like crazy by the time she made it back. She entered, wearing baggy black pants covered with pockets, buckles and chains. The stitches were a bright green, complimenting her eyes. She was wearing a shirt with red English lettering that he couldn't understand, but was a dark, olive green with black accents. The shirt, he had to admit was pretty small, because it showed her curves more than the school uniform.

Shaking that thought out of his head, he grabbed his stomach, "Man, I am starving."

"Sorry about that... Have you ever had American food before?"

"Like what, McDonalds?"

She laughed, "Well, yeah, sort of."

"Only a few times."

She shrugged, "I bet you'll like this, though. My own specialty. Opening a box and boiling water."

"What, like ramen?"

"Not quite," she ran out to the kitchen, and put the kettle on. She got out a few select boxes of food that she thought he would enjoy. Her aunt's kitchen was littered with boxes upon boxes of prepackaged American food. Mac 'n cheese, flaked potatoes, pop tarts, various soups, beef stew, cake. Anything you could buy at Wal-mart, was there. Sakura wanted some "taste" of home when she was living here. If he wanted onigiri or sushi, or even a bento box, he'd have to go somewhere else, because this house was American, for sure.

She went back in the living room, where he had been staring at the wall for a few minutes.

"...You could've turned the TV on. I don't want you to think about food while you're starving," She grabbed the remote on the table next to him and turned the TV on. Forgetting that they didn't have cable, she popped in a DVD of her favourite anime. In English, of course.

"Do you watch Three for the Kill?"

"I don't have cable, but I've got it in English."

He grabbed his face, "Of course. Everything you have is in English."

She looked at him sincerely, "I can teach you..."

"Really?" 'Maybe I can impress Tenma if I know English.'

Sakura frowned, looking away, "Yeah. But it'll be extensive..."

"I'll do it, no matter what it takes!" 'For Tenma!'

She shook her head, '-Oh, no. He likes someone already-...' she put 'Three for the Kill' on and walked out to the kitchen, sighing. '-WAIT A MINUTE, HE LIKES TENMA?-' She screamed in her head. '-If he likes her, and she likes Ooji, who does Ooji like? She looks like she's had a crush on him for quite a long time now. Oh, god. I've gotten myself into something bad. Ooji is a pretty clueless person, by the looks of it, and she's not going to figure that out if she hasn't yet. I've gotta find a way to distract him from Tenma, and set _her_ up with Ooji-.'

Sakura returned with two plates of food a little while later. She set it on the table, and went back for something to drink.

"Coke okay?"

Kenji paused for a second, "Sure."

She returned with two cans of Coca Cola, surprisingly bought in Japan.

She snapped hers open and chugged half of it down, giving a refreshing sigh and a belch, "-Huh. Tastes kinda funny-."

"You sure speak English a lot," Kenji commented absent-mindedly.

"Well, yeah, it's not like that's my home's primary language or anything," Sakura said, sarcastically, digging in.

Kenji stared at the semi-strange assortment of food in front of him. It smelled good...

"What's the matter? Oh. You don't know what all that is, do you?"

He gave her a "what do you think?" look. She laughed, pointing at the chunky yellow glob on one side of the plate.

"Macaroni and Cheese... basically, noodles.. and cheese," She pointed to the creamy white glob on the other side. "Mashed potatoes." She then pointed to the stick of meat in a bun.

"That's a hot dog," she said, sounding depressed.

Kenji gave a hearty laugh. 'Nothing quite like a foreigner.'

Sakura looked at him, questioning.

"I was testing you. I know what that is, I've just never had it," He chuckled to himself, 'Hot dog. Hahaha.'

Starving, Kenji decided to shovel the food in his mouth. He almost burnt himself on the hot dog, but everything else went down fine.

He threw his head back and groaned, "Oh, that was some fine eating. No wonder you Americans are f--"

Sakura threw him a look, "Are what?"

For a second, Kenji reflected upon his life, because the death glare he was receiving wasn't too pleasant, but then Sakura at first smiled, then started giggling. He gave her a blank look in return.

"Fat?"

Kenji looked down and nodded, "Yeah."

Sakura laughed, "Ah, even I'm fat. Don't worry about it."

He shifted back to the couch, where Mangoku was speaking... English?

Curious, Kenji asked, "How long is it going to take me to catch up on my English?"

Sakura smirked, "How long do you want it to take?"

If he weren't concentrating so hard on forming a sentence, he would've taken that as a come-on. "-I want to learn fast-."

Sakura frowned, "Ugh. From now on, you speak to me in English, no matter where we are. Only speak Japanese if it's an emergency. Kay?"

He nodded, blushing slightly at his rusty English.

"I didn't quite catch that."

"-Yes-."

"-Good, now, how bad do you think you are-?"

"-Pretty damn bad-."

"-Doesn't sound like it to me-. You've just gotta work on your pronunciation. ...And that accent. No, never mind."

"-What-?"

"-Nothing-."

"-I'm not best at English-."

"-It's okay. You're learning, like I'm learning Japanese-. Everyone makes mistakes, and I'll teach you so you don't embarrass yourself," She said it slowly, so he could understand more.

"-How long you going to stay here for-?"

"-How long _are_ you going to stay here-?" She corrected him, and then answered his question. "I'm going to stay here indefinitely, but I have to go back home and visit my friends, and buy some things sometimes. In fact, I'm going next month, would you like to come with? It'd be a good learning experience. -I'm thinking about bringing someone else, too-."

He may not have understood every word of that last sentence, but he lit up, "-Okay-."

Kenji fell for it: hook, line and sinker. Sakura smiled, "-Well, I don't want to keep you here all day-..."

"-Okay. I have stuff to do besides-."

She coughed, "You mean, -anyway, not besides-."

He nodded, "-Ah-."

She walked him to the front door.

"-Thank you for staying, it was nice to have someone for dinner-."

"Tha--" Sakura looked at him, nicely, but reminding him to speak English.

"-Thank you, for ...dinner-."

She smiled, hugging him, "-You're welcome. Any time-."

He paused, awkwardly hugging her back. He put his shoes on, and gave her a few confused looks. Hugging wasn't exactly customary... Maybe it was over there?

"-Oh, sorry-. Is it unusual for people to hug over here?"

"-A little-."

As he headed out the door, she said good-bye and reminded him that if he wanted to learn English faster, that he should come over every day, or she could go to his house. He preferred the former, since he didn't want Itoko to think he had a girlfriend.

After he drove off, she remembered that she still had his jacket. She locked the door and headed to her room, shutting the door, turning off the lights and leaping on her bed, where his jacket lie, still neatly folded. She unfolded it and hugged it, falling asleep. With every breath, his intoxicating smell filled her nostrils, drowning her in daydreams and fantasies.

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Hopefully, it didn't kill you, or confuse you. Hmmm… Well, any ideas, feel free to deliver. I'd be happy to hear some… Oh yes. From this point on, since you have hopefully realised that Sakura is one of the main characters and that she's American that she thinks in English. So no more of these "-" for thoughts! Yay!


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